Today is Sunday; 4th of the Iranian month of Mehr 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 23rd of the Islamic month of Zi’l-Hijjah 1437 lunar hijri; and September 25, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1375 lunar years ago, on this day in 61 AH, the two pre-teen sons of Muslim Ibn Aqeel, were martyred in Kufa, Iraq, by the Godless Hareth Ibn Urwah. There are two different accounts of the tragic martyrdom of 12-year old Mohammad and 10-year Ibrahim, whose shrine is a site of pilgrimage near the town of Musayyeb. According to one version, they accompanied Muslim, who was sent as emissary to the people of Kufa by his cousin, Imam Husain (AS), the grandson of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Following the martyrdom of their father, who had entrusted them to the care of the dubious judge, Shurray, they tried to return to Medina, were caught, jailed, escaped from prison with the help of sympathizers, then caught again and mercilessly killed by the riverside on this day in 60 AH, with their heads taken as trophies to Obaidullah Ibn Ziyad, the tyrannical Omayyad governor. The second version says the boys were with Imam Husain (AS) when he reached Karbala, were witness to history’s most heartrending tragedy, made captive along with the rest of the household of the Prophet, fell behind the caravan of captives as it departed for Damascus, imprisoned for several months in Kufa, escaped from prison, wondered unknowingly into the house of their executioner, treated kindly by his wife on learning of their identity, snatched by her husband, taken to the riverside, and cruelly beheaded this day in 61 AH. Instead of the expected reward for their heads, Hareth was killed on the orders of Ibn Ziyad.

1272 solar years ago, on this day in 744 AD, Yazid Ibn al-Waleed or Yazid III, the 12th self-styled caliph of the Omayyad usurper regime, died of a brain tumour, less than six months after seizing the caliphate through a coup against his immoral, drunkard and debauched cousin, Waleed II the son of Yazid II, who was killed. The mother of Yazid III was an Iranian concubine and he was known as “an-Naqqes” (the Diminisher) for his austerity measures in contrast to the profligacy and sinning habits of the Omayyads. It is worth noting that in 6 years from 126 to 132 AH, six Omayyad caliphs died one after another as this tyrannical dynasty came to its end.

1254 solar years ago, on this day in 762 AD, Mohammad Ibn Abdullah al-Mahaz Ibn Hassan al-Muthanna, entered Medina and proclaimed his uprising against Abbasid misrule. Known as Nafs az-Zakiyya (the Pure Soul), he was a great-grandson of Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba (AS), the elder grandson and 2nd Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Of impressive build, amiable demeanour, and gifted with oratory skills, he soon took Mecca and Yemen. He freed prisoners, changed judiciary and administrative posts, appointed governors in all parts of Arabia, and sent his brother Ibrahim to Basra to take charge of affairs in Iraq. He sent a letter to the usurper caliph, Mansour Dawaniqi, in Hirah near Kufa, demanding surrender by reminding him of the pledge of allegiance he had made as a persecuted fugitive in the days of the Omayyad regime, to the rule of the Prophet’s descendents. Mansour instead sent an army against him, composed mainly of units from Khorasan that were deceived by Abbasid propaganda. On December 6, the same year, Nafs az-Zakiyya was martyred in battle near Medina when his followers deserted him. His uprising did not have uniform support from all. Although some important figures of Hijaz and Iraq, like Malek Ibn Anas, Sufyan Thawri, and Abu Hanifa, backed him, the Prophet’s 6th Infallible Heir, Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS) refrained from publicly supporting the uprising, but at the same time refused to sign a pledge of loyalty as demanded by the Abbasids. Mansour tried in vain to implicate Imam Sadeq (AS) in the uprising, confiscated his properties, and three years later martyred him through poisoning.

1133 solar years ago, on this day in 813 AD, Amin, the 6th self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime, was killed in Baghdad after a reign of four years, and his head sent to his brother Ma’mun who had dispatched an army from Khorasan to attack and his kill his profligate elder step-brother. The two were the sons of the tyrant Haroun Rasheed through different mothers.

1092 lunar years ago, on this day in 345 AH, the Islamic historian, geographer, scientist, and traveller, Abu'l-Hassan Ali ibn al-Hussain al-Mas'udi, passed away at the age of 60 near the then Egyptian capital Fustat in what would later become the city of Cairo. He was born in Baghdad and traced his lineage to the Prophet's companion, Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud. In his homeland he mastered the sciences of the day including theology, history, philosophy, and geology, in addition to learning the Persian, Sanskrit, Greek, Latin and Syriac languages. In his mid-twenties, he embarked on voyages to many Islamic and other lands that lasted almost till the end of his life. His journeys took him to most of the Persian provinces, including Armenia, Azerbaijan and other regions of the Caspian Sea; as well as to Arabia, Syria and Egypt. He also travelled to the Indus Valley and other parts of India, especially the western coast; and he voyaged more than once to East Africa. He sailed the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, visiting Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and China. After careful observations, he wrote his works and was one of the first to combine history and scientific geography in a large-scale work. His surviving masterpiece, titled “Murouj az-Zahab wa Ma'aden al-Jowhar” (Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems), is a universal geographical history. The titles of more than twenty books attributed to him are known, including several on Islamic beliefs, but most of his writings have been lost. His major work was “Akhbār az-Zamaan” (The History of Time) in 30 volumes. It was an encyclopedic world history, taking in not only political history but also many facets of human knowledge and activities.

722 solar years ago, on this day in 1294 AD, English philosopher, chemist and Franciscan friar, Roger Bacon, died. His access to Latin translations of the Arabic works of Islamic scholars opened his mind, and he became greatly influenced in the field of optics by the monumental book “Kitab al-Manazer” of Abul-Hassan Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen to medieval Europe). His writings also show the impact of the Arab philosopher Ya’qub Ibn Ishaq al-Kindi. Bacon's discussions of the properties of the magnifying glass show the clear influence of the Iranian scientist Ala Ibn Sahl in dioptric.         

620 solar years ago, on this day in 1396 AD, Ottoman Emperor Bayezid I defeated a united Christian army of Hungarian, French, German, Serb, Italian, Burgundian, and Wallachian troops, at the Battle of Nicopolis, resulting in the end of Bulgaria as a country. Seven years earlier, after the victory and subsequent death of his father, Murad I, at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, he had conquered most of the Balkans, and reduced the Byzantine Empire to the area immediately surrounding Constantinople. This made European powers to form an alliance to try to drive out the victorious Turks. In 1394, Pope Boniface IX proclaimed a new crusade against Muslims. The huge Christian force that numbered over 200,000 was decisively defeated by Bayezid – who six years later in 1402 was defeated in the Battle of Ankara by the Central Asian conqueror, Amir Timur, and taken as a prisoner to Samarqand, where he died in captivity.

423 solar years ago, on this day in 1593 AD, the 3rd Mughal Emperor of the Northern Subcontinent, Jalal od-Din Akbar sent Shaikh Farid Bashir ul-Mulk to conquer the Siwalik Hills region of the outer range of the Himalayas. Jammu fort surrendered and the country was settled under Qazi Hasan. As a result, the Mughal Empire was consolidated over all Hindustan or north of the Vindhya Range, from Bengal in the east to as faras Kabul and Qandahar in the west.

77 lunar years ago, on this day in 1359 AH, the erudite scholar, Shaikh Abbas Qommi, popular as Muhaddith Qommi, because of his mastery over Hadith literature, passed away in Najaf at the age of 64 and was laid to reside beside his teacher, Mirza Hussain “Muhaddith” Noori, in the courtyard of the holy shrine of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS). Born in holy Qom, after completion of preliminary studies, he left for Iraq at the age of 20 for higher studies at the famous seminary of holy Najaf, where fellow students included the well known scholars Aqa Bozorg-e Tehrani, Ayatollah Shaikh Mohammad Hassan Kashef al-Gheta, and Seyyed Abdul-Husain Sharaf od-Din Musawi (of Lebanon). He returned Iran after six years and engaged himself in the writing and compilation of Islamic books in his hometown, having acquired valuable expertise in this field in Najaf, where he assisted his teacher Muhaddith Noori in the compilation of books. At the age of 39 he shifted to holy Mashhad in a house adjacent to the blessed shrine of Imam Reza (AS) – the 8th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Abbas Qommi was second to none in the training of oneself, and considered it unjust to advise other people to perform supplications without having first performed himself. Thus, before delivery of manuscript to the publisher, of his famous prayer/supplication manual “Mafatih al-Jinan” (Keys of Paradise), he had not only gone through the book afresh over a period of one year, but also performed every supplication for each day that was recommended therein in order to observe “practice what you preach”. That is why this book is considered one of the best concerning supplications and “Ziyaraat” (pilgrimages). In addition to the famous “Mafatih” which is present in almost every Shi’a Muslim household in Iran and throughout the world, he authored several well-researched books in Arabic and Persian. Of these, mention could be made of “Safinat-al-Behaar wa Madinat-al-Hekam wa’l-Aasaar” (Guide to study of Allamah Majlisi’s famous encyclopedia “Behar al-Anwaar”), “al-Fawa’ed ar-Razawiyyah fi Taraajam Ulama al-Ja’fariyah” (Biography of Shi’a scholars), “Muntahi-al-Aamaal fi Tarikh an-Nabi wa’l-Aal” (History of the Prophet, Imams and their descendants), “Bayt al-Ahzaan fi Mas’aeb Seyyedat-an-Niswaan” (Martyrdom of Hazrat Fatema Zahra – SA), “Manazel al-Aakherah” (Stages of Afterlife), “Nafas ul- Mahmoom” (Tragedy of Karbala), and “Waqa’e al-Ayyam” (Islamic Chronology).

54 solar years ago, on this day in 1962 AD, the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria was formally proclaimed with Ferhat Abbas as the elected President of the provisional government. Abbas had acted in a provisional capacity during the years 1958 to 1961, while Algeria was fighting the French occupiers. Algeria’s independence on July 5, 1962, followed the 8-year war that led to the death of a million and a half Algerian Muslims. For almost a year till September 15, 1963 Ferhat Abbas was president of the constitutional assembly that was rapidly sidelined by Ahmad Bin Bella on being elected to the presidency. He resigned in protest to Bin Bella’s decision to establish a one-party state, and was placed under house arrest from 1964 until the latter’s overthrow in 1965. From 1976 to 1979, he was put under house arrest, after signing a statement opposing the powerful military-backed President, Colonel Houari Boumedienne. He died in 1985.

47 solar years ago, on this day in 1969 AD, the charter establishing the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) was signed. OIC, which was set up following the arson attack on al-Aqsa Mosque in the Zionist occupied Islamic city of Bayt al-Moqaddas, now has 57 Muslim states as members.

34 solar years ago, on this day in 1982 AD, Iranian artist and calligrapher, Reza Ma'afi, passed away. Born in the holy city of Mashhad, he learned this art under the prominent calligrapher, E’tesami. He created more than 800 works and held a number of exhibitions of his works in Iran and overseas. His last exhibition was in Tehran in 1979 in memory of martyrs of the Islamic Revolution.

25 solar years ago, on this day in 1991 AD, Ayatollah Seyyed Mostafa Musavi Khwansari “Kashefi”, passed away. A prominent student of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hussain Boroujerdi, he authored several books, including “Hajj Rituals”, and “Marriage in Islam”.

13 solar years ago, on this day in 2003 AD, Palestinian author and thinker, Edward Sa’eed, passed away in the US at the age of 68 after a long battle with cancer. Born in a Christian family in the city of Bayt al-Moqaddas, he left for the US at the age of 17 for higher studies and obtained a PhD in Comparative Literature from Harvard University. A relentless supporter of the Palestinian cause, he enlightened the international community about the oppression of the Palestinian people by the illegal Zionist entity. He was elected to the Palestine National Parliament in 1977, but resigned in 1991 in protest to the compromise with Israel by the Palestine Liberation Organization. Among his books mention can be made of “Culture and Imperialism”, “The Politics of Dispossession”, and “Covering Islam”. His most important book is “Orientalism”, published in 1978. In this book, he describes how the Oriental scholars have turned into tools of Western colonialists to justify the looting of the wealth of Eastern nations by Western colonial states.

11 solar years ago, on this day 2005 AD, the Subcontinent’s Urdu and Persian author, linguist, researcher and critic, Dr. Ghulam Mustafa Khan, passed away in Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan at the age of 93. Born in Jabalpur, India, in a religious family of the Naqshbandi Sufi order, he was a product of the famous Aligarh Muslim University and did his MA in Urdu & Persian literature, followed by PhD on the eminent Persian poet, Hassan Ghaznavi. He migrated to Pakistan, and took up service at the Urdu College, Karachi. Later he was head of the Department of Urdu in Sindh University, Hyderabad. His book on the famous philosopher-poet “Iqbal Lahori and the holy Qur’an”, was awarded as the best book ever written on this subject. Dr Ghulam Mustafa became a famous religious and spiritual leader. He trained a large number of students and was author of more than 100 books in Arabic, Persian, Urdu and English.

AS/ME